Cash-at-door: Order to frame charges against ex-judge

A CBI special court Wednesday ordered the framing of charges against retired high court judge Nirmal Yadav accused of corruption and conspiracy in the Rs.1.5 million cash-at-door scandal.

Justice (retired) Yadav will have to be present in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) special court here Aug 12 when charges would be framed. She had been exempted from court appearance till now.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court was hit by a scandal after a packet containing Rs.1.5 million was found Aug 13, 2008 at the doorstep of the Sector 11 house of a newly-appointed judge Nirmaljit Kaur. She complained to police and got a case registered.

Yadav was also a judge in the high court here when the scandal came to light.

The police later arrested then Haryana additional advocate general Sanjeev Bansal, property dealer Rajiv Gupta and Delhi-based hotelier Ravinder Singh in this connection.

Police claimed Bansal and Gupta told them that the money was meant for Justice Nirmal Yadav.

The two claimed that another packet containing Rs.1.5 million was separately delivered to Yadav at her Sector 24 official residence later, since the first packet was wrongly delivered to the other woman judge, police said.

A case was registered by the Chandigarh Police initially and later the investigation was handed over to the CBI.

Despite objections from Yadav, the Supreme Court had set up an independent enquiry into the case. The high court , in 2011, directed Yadav to appear before the trial court.

Yadav was later transferred to the Uttarakhand High Court from where she retired in 2012.

The CBI filed a charge-sheet against Yadav for corruption, conspiracy, destruction of evidence and creation of false evidence.